Heels wrap up challenging stretch with 4th straight win

Monday

CHAPEL HILL — In the closer of a ridiculous stretch of three Atlantic Coast Conference games in five days, No. 14 North Carolina’s stamina could be measured by the play of guard Cameron Johnson.

Having sat out 11 games this season while recovering from knee surgery, his legs would be tested the most.

With less than six minutes remaining and in the midst of a 13-0 Tar Heels run that would seal the win, Johnson went baseline and posterized Rex Pflueger with dunk that put UNC up by seven on the way to an 83-66 win over Notre Dame on Monday night.

But not everyone was impressed.

“I don’t believe he grabbed the rim so, please, when you talk about it, call it an exaggerated layup,” Kenny Williams said of Johnson’s jam.

The graduate transfer from Pittsburgh was one of four players who scored in double figures for the Tar Heels with 13 points as UNC (20-7, 9-5) notched its fourth straight league win after losing three straight.

And they were supposed to be worn down after rivalry-game wins against Duke and at N.C. State in a span of less than 48 hours.

“They’re a little bit tired,” Heels coach Roy Williams said. “I told them if we’d lost I was never going to say it was three games in five days. I thought it was a great challenge. I don’t like it and hope it never happens to us again but I treated it as an opportunity.

“We’re the only team in the league that can win three games in five days: until you get to the tournament.”

Williams’ ire was certainly quelled by the victory but, historically, this kind of schedule is rare.

The last time UNC played so many regular-season conference games in such a short span was 1991 — that was 27 years ago, in the George H.W. Bush era. And that scheduling was a result of the Gulf War.

“We’ve been playing some pretty good basketball. I honestly think it’s our chemistry coming together,” he said.

A big element in that chemical equation is Johnson, who joined the rotation just in time for ACC play. He’s part of a four-guard starting lineup that forces opponents to patrol the perimeter and opens up the lane for Mr. Everything, Luke Maye.

Maye became Carolina elite with his 33 points and 17 rebounds in Saturday’s win over N.C. State, joining Lennie Rosenbluth, Billy Cunningham and Mitch Kupchak as the only Heels ever to post multiple 30-point, 15-rebound games in one season.

His eight points and eight boards Monday night weren’t so gaudy, but he contributed to the late-game run with a couple of snappy assists.

Theo Pinson’s 16 points and 10 rebounds were huge and timely. He scored nine after the Fighting Irish trimmed the lead to 58-57 with 9:38 to play.

Williams added 14 points for the Heels.

Coach Williams is still looking for more out of his defense, saying he resorted to “ranting and raving and slobbering” during a halftime diatribe.

“I have had a team that led the nation in defensive field-goal percentage. Now we’re 327th out of 351 or something like that. I didn’t get that dumb that fast,” he said.

Notre Dame shot 37.9 percent Monday night as John Mooney kept the Irish in the game, hitting all five of his 3-point attempts in the first half and sharing a team-high 18 points with Martinas Geben.

UNC lit it up again in the second half, a trend of late, with a 56.7-percent shooting performance. The Tar Heels have shot 50 percent or better in the second half five times in the their last six games.

Williams doesn’t want his Heels to rely on scoring alone, though.

“I’m still trying to convince my team we’ve got to be able to guard people a little bit better and they’re sort of making me think that they think they can outscore people. But I know that’s not true when you want to win the bigger games"

Staff writer Monica Holland can be reached at mholland@fayobserver.com or 486-3518.

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